Goodfellows helps family celebrate the season

Updated 10:14 pm, Thursday, December 15, 2011

Charlotte Johnson and sons Tyris, 17, and toddler Berth, 16 months, had been living at a shelter but now reside with a relative.

Charlotte Johnson and sons Tyris, 17, and toddler Berth, 16 months, had been living at a shelter but now reside with a relative.

Photo: Dave Rossman

Goodfellows helps family celebrate the season

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Charlotte Johnson didn't think Christmas would come in December this year. Her two boys who live with her, Tyris, a 17-year-old Lamar High School student, and Berth, an energetic 16-month-old, weren't going to get their holiday presents until Johnson received her income tax refund in the spring.

But thanks to Goodfellows, Johnson's family will be opening presents on Dec. 25. Celebrating its 100th year, the program is funded by contributions from Houston Chronicle readers.

Not that material goods are Johnson's main concern, anyway.

"I know my kids love me, and the Lord's always got me, so I always keep it in the aspect that Christmas is more about being with family," Johnson, 35, says. "As long as I keep that in my mind, and I always got some family around me at that time, I'll be OK."

Her optimism is heartening, especially considering her situation: After several domestic violence incidents with a boyfriend (who later was jailed on unrelated charges), Johnson moved into a women's shelter. After months of trying to secure steady work, she landed a job at a McDonald's, then as a banquet server at Magnolia Ballroom. But she had to leave the shelter this month, having stayed there 90 days, the limit.

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"Honestly, right now, I am like …" she pauses, the next word caught in her throat, "homeless."

For the time being, she is staying at a family member's apartment with two of her boys; a third, her 14-year-old son Karveh, lives with his father. Johnson says that the lease on the apartment is up at the end of the month. She's hoping that a placement interview with Northwest Assistance Ministries, which provides subsidized housing for disadvantaged families, will have a good outcome.

"If not, I'll probably end up back at the shelter," she says.

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WANT TO GIVE?

Checks for tax-deductible contributions can be mailed to Goodfellows, 801 Texas, Houston, TX 77002, or made online at chron.com/goodfellows.